Group hopes to revive community radio station WPAZ

For two years, Mike Pincus and I co-hosted a call-in show called "Talking Politics" on WPAZ 1370 AM in the Pottstown area. The station abruptly went off the air last December when the out-of-state owners decided they no longer wanted to operate the station.

Some local residents are now trying to bring WPAZ back.

From a story by reporter Brandie Kessler in The Pottstown Mercury:

UPPER POTTSGROVE — If he has his way, Ross Landy will revive what he considers an "endangered species" of local community radio with the re-establishment of WPAZ.

"For me, personally ... I've always loved radio since I was a kid," Landy said, noting that, as a musician, it's specifically "local, community-owned radio" with which he has a fascination.

When WPAZ went dark suddenly back in December, countless longtime listeners of the station expressed their opinions about the station's closing to The Mercury and to each other. Many of those expressions were of sadness and dismay over losing the programing they had listened to for years.

Landy, 37, who has lived in the area for about seven years, recalled seeing some of the feedback from WPAZ fans in The Mercury.

With the help of his business partner, Rick Rodgers, 58, of Upper Pottsgrove, who works in the electronics manufacturing field and operates a small, low-powered radio program in Upper Pottsgrove, Landy believes they will be able to acquire the funding necessary to purchase the station outright and turn it into a more community-centered radio station.

"Between the two of us," Landy said of himself and Rodgers, "we got the idea that now that WPAZ is gone, we want to bring it back."

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.

Learn more about the efforts to revive WPAZ at the WPAZ Preservation Association Web site.